Lou Mariboff on smoking

Lou Mariboff briefly talks about the urge to smoke in his book "The Big Questions".

"Maybe there's another reason why people smoke. At bottom, it's a spiritual reason. People smoke cigarettes in order to sense their breath. When you inhale a cigarette, you really feel the smoke (and therefore the breath) entering your airways and lungs; when you exhale, you can both feel and see the smoke (and therefore the breath) exiting your lungs and airways. Breathing is the basic fact of your life: It's the first thing you started doing when you were born and drawing your last breath will be your final act in this life. The breath and the spirit are intimately related. By learning to breath correctly, your bring your body and mind under control. Then, and only then, can your spiritual energy manifest fully. So people are right to want to feel their breathing, but you need to learn helpful rather than harmful ways of doing so. You can't fill a spiritual void with smoke any more than with cheeseburgers."

Lou Marinoff, The Big Questions.